Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is calling attention to a program that lets deer hunters share their venison with people in need of a meal.

Missouri's firearms deer season opens this weekend.

Nixon scheduled news conferences Thursday in Ashland, St. Louis and Sedalia to announce an expansion of the Share the Harvest program. The governor was to be joined by the executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri.

Last year, nearly 4,700 Missouri hunters donated almost 263,000 pounds of venison to be processed and distributed to people in need of meat. But in recent years, the program has had to cap the amount of deer it can accept from hunters because of limited finances.